Ava ran as far as she could, her lungs felt like they were gonna explode and her whole body felt weak, but she knew that she had to keep going or Rath and Lonnie were going to kill her the way that they had killed Zan. All because Zan hadn't wanted to go to Roswell to see the other four aliens. Ava had tried to stop them, she had really tried, she loved Zan, and would do anything for him. Would have done anything for him. Ava allowed herself to stop running, surely Rath and Lonnie wouldn't have kept up with her all this way, and she always had been able to outrun them.
Letting the tears wash over her, she sunk to the ground and let herself wallow in the grief of losing her lover. No one bothered her. People knew to keep themselves to themselves here; you couldn't trust anyone in New York.
Ava must have sat there for at least an hour, with no one even glancing at her when a man came and stood over her, looking down at her red tear streaked face.
"Ava, we must speak, urgently. Come with me," the man practically ordered her.
"No way, I don't know how you know my name but I ain't goin' anywhere with ya! Now leave me alone," Ava said to him before getting up and walking away.
"Ava please. I am Larek. I have news for you and besides, what choice do you have? It's either come with me or go back to the two rejects. Now come," he ordered her once again.
"Larek? Sounds familiar, what the hell kinda name is that anyway?"
"Well it's not exactly an earth kinda name but then neither is yours. I'll explain it to you in detail. Come," Larek told her.
Ava reluctantly followed the mysterious Larek hoping that he wasn't gonna lead her back to Lonnie and Rath. She never wanted to see them again.
A few minutes later they arrived at a hotel. Larek opened the door to a room and walked in. Ava was reluctant to follow him.
"Oh no! No way! I aint into that, dunno what kinda cheap thrills you think that you're gonna get but you're thinkin' wrong." Ava started shouting at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have anything planned with you. This is where I'm staying and the safest place I know that we can talk. So can you come in and sit down?" Larek said trying to calm her down. "I promise that nothing will happen to you."
"OK, but any tricks and I am outta here," Ava said looking him straight in the eye.
"Thank you. Now what I am about to tell you may come as a shock. You know about your history, I presume?" At Ava's nod Larek carried on. "On Antar after you died we made a set of Pods with the king, his wife, his second and his sister in them but something went wrong. They didn't have the same personalities as their originals-we can tell what a person is going to be like before they are born. They were more like Khivar and his relatives. We created another set of clones. This set turned out right, so we sent them to earth and kept them well hidden. As a backup, if you will, we also sent the defectives, hoping that earth would have a humanising effect on them."
"We watched both sets of clones over the years at first, watched them mature, learn about themselves, their powers, learn about humans and to love. We also watched your duplicate Tess. Watched her learn about herself with the help of the protector. There were obvious differences between the two sets, but it became more apparent that there was something wrong with you and your duplicate. Whereas you were growing up kinder and more loving than your pod mates even with their influence, Tess was more ruthless, conniving and manipulative than can be taught or learned."
All Ava could do was sit and stare. Although they had heard a bit about how they came to be, she had never heard it put this bluntly before.
"I'm defective?" was all she could ask puzzled.
"Shush, I haven't finished. We managed to kidnap one of Khivars close personal advisors. And through him we found out that a protector had been bribed by Khivar to turn to his side. The protector had managed to change the DNA from the King and the others in the first attempt with DNA from Khivar. When it was found that they were defective he switched you and Tess, so he would have an insider in the group. You should be in Roswell with the true Zan, Vilandra and Rath. That is why I came to see you, you need to go to Roswell and tell Max, Isabel and Michael about Tess and the switch. They don't know as much about themselves as you do so I'm afraid I'm going to have to rely on you to teach them a few things," Larek finished and looked expectantly at Ava.
"They don't even know their real names?"
"They have been living as humans, and until a few months ago, had had no contact with their protector or you double but now they know their names although they do not use them," Larek told her with a strange look on his face. 'All he had just told her and that's the part she picks up on?' he thought of the not so intelligent queen. She had never been very bright, even on Antar.
"Oh. So what's the plan? We gonna kill her or summit? I mean c'mon she's like an impostor ain't she? Ava asked non-committal.
"I'm hoping that will not be necessary. A loyal protector raised Tess, she may not know about the DNA switch with Khivar, which can be used to our advantage. If she still thinks that she is one of the Royal Four, she won't be in touch with Khivar and he may not know anything about Max, Michael, Isabel or you and Tess."
"So what is the plan? Are we gonna go to the dinky tourist trap town of Roswell or we just gonna stay here and hope that this traitor never finds out?"
"You are gong to Roswell by yourself. Me being here is using up much of our planets resources. Go to Roswell, observe the Four, try to find out as much as you can. Find out if Tess does know about her true origins," Larek told her.
"By myself? I didn't know that I would have to do it alone. I don't think I can do it without ya. I mean what do I do? What do they look like?" Ava said looking desperate.
Larek was almost speechless. He couldn't believe that one person could be so dense. "They look like you, Lonnie, Rath and Zan do. Only the personalities are different. Think you'll be able to look for a person identical to you?"
"Don't talk to me like that. What are ya, slow or summit? Yes I can do it. Anything else I need to know? Ava asked quite abruptly.
"There is more but I will check in with you in a few days," Larek answered.
"OK, later." And with that Ava left the hotel leaving Larek alone.
'Thank God for that,' he thought. 'He had never liked the queen but they all needed her now. If she didn't mate with a human, if all the Royal Four didn't, then there would no chance of defeating the skins. Ava doesn't know about having to mate with humans, she probably thinks she'll go to Roswell, save the day and live happily ever after on Antar with Zan.'
"At least destiny has begun. Zan, Rath and Vilandra have all found their mates, leaving Ava. Dumb alien better not muck this up," Larek thought aloud.
Ok, please let me know what u think about this part. And can I just tell ya's that I don't have a beta, if anyone does want to volunteer then just e-mail me please. Also I do kinda realise that I should've had one sooner.
Thanx, Leanne x